Appeals court lets Raucci-related suit proceed

By PAUL NELSON Staff writer

Updated 9:54 pm, Thursday, July 14, 2011

Steven Raucci sits with his attorney Ron DeAngelus before he received his sentence from Judge Polly Hoye in Schenectady County Court in Schenectady, New York June 8, 2010. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

SCHENECTADY -- A midlevel appeals court has ruled a lawsuit, filed by a husband and wife against their alleged tormentor Steven Raucci, while he was the school district's facilities director and CSEA local union boss, can move forward.

The case centers around the years of misconduct of Raucci, who was convicted in April 2010 by a Schenectady County jury of vandalizing the homes and cars of his perceived foes, including Deborah and Harold Gray, who sued the district.

The decision issued Thursday by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court in Albany stemmed from the earlier denial in Supreme Court of the district's earlier request to dismiss the Grays' complaint.

The couple, former Raucci friends, had their Saratoga County home spray-painted with the word "rat" and their vehicles vandalized five different times between 2005 and 2009.

Raucci, 61, apparently believed Deborah Gray penned an anonymous letter in January 2005 to the CSEA attempting to get him pushed out of his union post.

The appeals judges found that the lower court judge erred in September 2010 in not dismissing the Grays' claim that the district was responsible for "intentional infliction of emotional distress."

The decision, however, found merit in and affirmed the judge's ruling on the two other parts of the civil action regarding the district's alleged "negligent supervision and negligent retention" of Raucci on the job.

School district lawyer Patrick Fitzgerald III, said the "school district very strongly denies the truth of those allegations" and plans to again make a motion to dismiss the case after the appropriate legal papers are exchanged, known as the discovery process, which may not be until early next year.

He said the allegations the Grays have leveled against Raucci were committed in the middle of the night and weekends and even holidays at their Burnt Hills residence.

"We can't be held responsible for failing to supervise someone when they're not working," Fitzgerald said, referring to the district and Raucci.

He said the district also plans to ask the court to throw out a lawsuit by former Raucci secretary, Barbara Tidball and her husband.

In it, she contends that for years, she received was inundated with greeting cards, signed and unsigned memos and other forms of "sexual and quasi-sexual" communication aimed at persuading her to dress and behave in a way Raucci would find appealing.

As a result, according to the lawsuit, Tidball suffered mental stress and humiliation that affected her qualify of life, and the pain she endured adversely affected Mark Tidball's relationship with his wife.